Report of committee for the form of quarter bills, 1778 December 12

This one-and-a-half page handwritten draft of a report on a folio-sized leaf outlines a six-point process for drafting and authorizing student quarter bills. The procedures consolidate the billing areas, detail the Treasurer's responsibilities, and expand the oversight of the President and Tutors. The report, dated December 12, 1778, is signed by President Samuel Langdon. The draft includes two differently worded versions of the sixth proposal, one of which is struck through.

Title transcribed from document verso.

The document has water and mold damage. The last figure of the date is missing due to paper loss.

The American Revolutionary War produced widespread inflation, and on November 9, 1778, the Harvard Corporation concluded that, "by the continual rise of all kinds of commodities it has been found necessary to make repeated alterations in the sums stated in the College Laws, & to be charged quarterly on the scholars." In an effort to streamline the billing process and give the Corporation more control over the process, Corporation members President Samuel Langdon, Professor John Winthrop, and Caleb Gannett were appointed to a Committee to consider some regulations to be made in making out the quarter bill on December 5, 1779.

The final report is transcribed in the Corporation records volume 3 (UAI 5.30 Box 3) in the Harvard University Archives.

Quarter bills are available in the Early records of the Steward (UAI 71) in the Harvard University Archives.